"Nosedive" is the first episode of the third series of Black Mirror; all six episodes in this series were released on Netflix simultaneously on 21 October 2016. Brooker says it was selected to be the season premiere "partly to slightly ease people in", at Netflix's recommendation. Alongside "San Junipero", "Nosedive" was first shown in 2016 ahead of its Netflix release at the Toronto International Film Festival. Two days prior to the series' release on Netflix, Brooker hinted that "Nosedive" is "a pastel, playful satire about modern insecurity."

Whilst series one and two of Black Mirror were shown on Channel 4 in the UK, in September 2015 Netflix commissioned the series for 12 episodes (split into two series of six episodes), and in March 2016 it outbid Channel 4 for the rights to distributing the third series, with a bid of $40 million. Due to its move to Netflix, the show had a larger budget than in previous series, which one critic suggests is responsible for the "impressive line-up" that was noted by many reviewers. Another critic called this episode the show's "most ambitious yet"; due to its larger episode order, series 3 was also able to vary its genre and tone more than previous series. One reviewer also noted that "Nosedive" contained "only American characters".

In November 2016, to tie in with the episode, Netflix released a tongue-in-cheek app called Rate Me. The app allows users to rate people, by their Twitter handle, and view their own rating and the ratings of others.
The episode is based on an idea by series creator Charlie Brooker for a movie; he and executive producer Annabel Jones pitched the idea to several movie companies in the United States after the first series of Black Mirror, but it was not commissioned. The original idea was of a comedy similar to Brewster's Millions, focused on a high status person trying to reduce their ranking in 24 hours. Later, Brooker wrote either a three or four page outline for the episode, wanting it to be "comedic, darkly". This version took inspiration from 1987 film Planes, Trains and Automobiles, in which the character is on a journey—for "Nosedive", this was initially a character travelling to an important work presentation.

Rashida Jones and Michael Schur wrote the episode. Known for comedy and sitcoms, the pair had previously worked together on many shows, including Parks and Recreation, but had never written anything together before "Nosedive". A fan of Brooker's works, Rashida Jones had been in contact with him for a few years beforehand and after the programme's move to Netflix, he suggested that she could write an episode. Schur was also a fan of Black Mirror and Rashida Jones suggested that they could co-write the episode. With Jones and Schur on board, the main character changed from someone focused on playing th…

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Adam Chitwood commented in Collider that Joe Wright deviated from his typical style, with visuals that focus on the characters. The world is "extremely curated" and appears perfect, wrote Architectural Digest's Shelli Nicole, reflecting the theme of "popularity and validation from social media". Pastel colours—"soft and superficially sweet pinks, greens, and blues"—conceal the darkness in the world.

A Business Insider article by Erin Brodwin argued that Lacie falls victim to the hedonic treadmill. Despite momentary happiness when receiving a high rating, Lacie is "lonely and unsatisfied". Brodwin pointed out that scientific studies concur with Lacie's experience, because there is no correlation between using social media and being happy in the long-term.
Several critics compared the episode to a 2014 episode of Community, "App Development and Condiments", which features an app where users assign each other "Meow Meow Beenz" ratings on a scale from one to five; Jack Shepherd of The Independent noted that both episodes "critically [analyse] people's obsession with stature on social media platforms with rating systems". Other reviewers compared "Nosedive" to the mobile application Peeple, in which users could rate one another, that garnered immediate backlash upon its release. Brooker said in an interview that he was not aware of the Community episode when he came up with the idea for "Nosedive", but that he did see advertising for Peeple during pre-production, initially thinking it would turn out to be marketing for a comedy show, and he considered whether or not they should still produce the episode. The episode has also been compared to the 2003 novel Down and Out in the Magic Kingdom, as each work explores a link between social approval and power.

Manuel Betancourt of Pacific Standard explained how "Nosedive" fits with other portrayals of social media in television and film, comparing it to 2017 films The Circle and Ingrid Goes West, which both explore negative aspects of social media. Betancourt said that historically, women have been portrayed as victims of technology, a pattern which these works fit. For instance, Ingrid and Lacie are both obsessed with coming across as perfect online. In contrast, male characters are traditionally the voice of reason: in these works, Lacie's brother Ryan, Mercer (The Circle) and Taylor's husband (Ingrid Goes West) serve this purpose. The androgyny of "Nosedive" character Susan is linked to her disdain for social media. Betancourt wrote that these characterisations do not accord with research on how men and women use technology, where some studies report that men have more emotional investment in positive feedback on social media. However, "Nosedive" shows people of all genders placing importance in social media, leading Betancourt to call it "perhaps the most keen-eyed critique [...] of recent titles".

Critics also noted the inclusion of Easter eggs within Black Mirror – small details referring to other episodes. In "Nosedive", a social media post from Michael Callow reads, "Just got thrown out of the zoo again :(", a joke based on Callow having intercourse with a pig in "The National Anthem". Brooker has described this Easter egg as his favourite in series three. Another reference to that episode is the fictional show Sea of Tranquility; in "The National Anthem", a special effects expert mentions having worked on the show, while in "Nosediv…

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Adam Mosseri, the CEO of social network Instagram, said he was inspired by "Nosedive" to test the hiding of "likes" on the Instagram service starting in 2019, recognising the negative connotations that keeping the number of "likes" easily visible had on some users' behaviour.

The episode was parodied in the 2017 Saturday Night Live sketch "Five Stars". It features Aziz Ansari and Bobby Moynihan desperately trying to impress each other on an Uber ride to boost each other's ratings. The sketch explicitly mentions Black Mirror, with both characters saying that "San Junipero" is their favourite episode.
"Nosedive" was well received by critics. Review aggregator website Rotten Tomatoes collected 22 reviews, identified 95% of them as positive, and calculated an average rating of 7.33/10. The episode garnered four-star ratings in The Independent and The Guardian, along with an A− rating in The A.V. Club. In The Mancunion, the episode received 3.5 stars; it was rated three stars by The Telegraph and the Irish Independent. Emefa Setranah of The Mancunion wrote that the episode lives up to the show's reputation, and The Guardian's Benjamin Lee said the episode feels fresh despite covering technology similarly to prior episodes.

Charles Bramesco wrote in Vulture that it expresses the show's "guiding theme" with "lucid clarity". TheWrap authors praised how the episode tackles society's social media obsession, and Mat Elfring of GameSpot said that its thought-provoking nature makes it a good choice for the season premiere. Matt Fowler wrote for IGN that the episode is "both fun and frustrating" which contrasts with the "grounded and grim" episodes to follow. Esquire's Corey Atad opined that it is "a tad too simplistic" though "totally engaging". Pat Stacey criticised in the Irish Independent that it "sets up the premise crisply, then spends far too much time labouring the point."

A major criticism was the episode's predictability and repetitiveness, while reception to the ending was mixed. Aubrey Page on Collider called the episode "woefully surface-level and a bit off-brand" because of its predictability, with Variety's Andrew Wallenstein agreeing and further saying that the episode lacks a disturbing tone, though this makes it more accessible. Zack Handlen of The A.V. Club believed that the first half of "Nosedive" is too predictable but the second half "[adds] depth and sincerity". Tasha Robinson wrote for The Verge that the episode "can be strident and obvious" but "understands human nature very well". Some reviewers believed the episode was too long and the ending was too positive. However, Digital Spy's Alex Mullane praised the ending, because though it is "bleak in some ways" it is also "a moment of sheer, fist-pumping joy"; J…

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